Organic Management Calendar

Sept. 1- Ewes are checked for parasites using FAMACHA system (follow link to parasites below), treated with garlic as needed (one ounce of garlic juice) and turned onto a third crop hay field for flushing. (Very clean of parasites because of the winter and harvests)

Sept. 30 Ewes are sorted into Ram groups and checked again for parasites and dosed with garlic if needed. Records kept of all of the FAMACHA readings for future reference. If a ewe is not responding I will isolate her in a pen for a week of daily garlic treatments. Rams are introduced to the flock(s). I usually have two or three rams and separate the group’s pastures. Ewe lambs are not exposed to a ram.

Nov. 10-Rams are removed from the flock.

Nov. 30 -(or when the ground and water freezes and ewes begin to need hay and water)--Ewes are brought into the open barn off pasture and are fed hay. Thin ewes are sorted into a separate group and are given some grain.

Dec.30-Ewes start to get supplemental organic grain, gradually increasing from 1/10 pound to ˝ pound per head per day over a week. Ewe lambs are in their own group.

Dec.-Feb.-Sheep are shorn. Sheep are penned in flock groups of less then 20 to minimize the risk of hernias from pushing. (Without the wool they are less padded) I shear before lambing for cleaner wool, more space and access to the grain trough, dryer lighter sheep, (they stay in the barn when it snows or rains), so I can see their udders, and because they are more careful to lamb inside, out of the wind.

Feb.15 Seven lambing pens (4’ x 4’) are set up.-Lambs start to be born. Ewes lamb in the flock group and are moved into a lambing pen for one to three days. CLIP; DIP; STRIP! Then are moved into a pen with up to five other ewes with lambs for a few days before joining the larger groups of lambed ewes. Tails are docked every sunday during lambing. Lambs are given free choice grain in a creep feeder. Ewes with singles are given one half pound of grain and as much hay as they will finish (5+ pounds/day each). Ewes with twins get 1 pound of grain + hay they will finish.

April 1-All lambs have been born. Ewes with Feb. lambs are taken off grain and are fed only hay in early April. Lambs have access to a creep pen with grain and hay. Open ewes are culled unless yearling.

April 25 to 30- the Feb. and early March lambs are weaned. Ewes are removed from lambs, checked and treated if needed for parasites. They are dried off in a pen away from the barn. Lambs never go with ewes onto the grass. Open yearling ewes need to be checked carefully and treated. They also may need extra supplimental selenium. Selenium is deficient in the NE soils and sometimes there is not enough in the mineral mix.

May 10-Ewes are checked for parasites treated with garlic if needed, and moved to permanent pasture. The sheep are rotated through the pastures very early in the season and then allowed several sections as the grass growth slows.

Weaned lambs are moved into the dry lot with free choice grain, hay and access to winter cleaned, un grazed pasture and a pole barn. Lambs’ pasture access is moved every day by “strip grazing” with portable fence. The lambs never go on ground that the ewes have been on. Most of the lamb pasture is mowed for hay in early June before their “strip” moves up to it. When the lambs are still small it takes a few weeks before they begin to eat much grass and I provide them with free choice hay and grain while they become accustomed to the new grass diet. I also pick grass and feed it to them and spred hay on the grass to introduce them to the grass, .

May-Sept - I use two long sections of Electronet and move one section out on new grass ahead of lambs about 10-24” twice a day as they began to eat more. The other section is moved up behind the lambs the same distance providing a strip of about 15 feet between sections for the lambs to romp. This works well for 70 lambs. Because of the price of grain I separate my larger replacement ewe lambs (over 50 #) into a different pasture space where ewes have been and reduce their grain. As The market lambs reach 60# I limit their grain to about 1/2# per day to increase their pasture intake. At finish weight they are sent to the butcher. I sort out finished lambs every three to four weeks. They usually weigh between 90-105 pounds. My first trip to the butcher is in late May. It seems as though ewe lambs need to be exposed to pasture parasites in the first year to develop resistance or more of them develop bad infections as yearlings.

AND BACK TO THE START OF THE MANAGEMENT CYCLE

I have a permanent sorting set-up made of wooden pens with a squeeze and a narrow chute that makes checking sheep and treating feet with a Zinc foot bath quick and easy. The chute also helps make using the FAMACHA system to check for parasites orderly. Sheep are always easier to handle in small spaces. I recently bought a foot bath pad that is a covered sponge that is much better than an open foot bath. The sheep move over it easily.

Sheep and lambs have access to water, shade, feed and salt mineral mix (Fertrell Nutra-balencer) year round. Our Barn is open on the south and west and the pens extend outside. Rams are housed separately except during breeding season.